HISTORY This Week

April 10, 1912. As the RMS Titanic pulls away from a crowded port on the south coast of England, it almost crashes. Just in time, it’s able to turn off its engines and prevent a collision with a smaller ship. Four days later, though, a serious disaster will not be avoided, and the Titanic’s first voyage will be her last. But during her brief life, the vessel is a microcosm of the Gilded world around her. How did this opulent luxury liner come to exist? And how did it foretell the dangers of wealth, technology, and arrogance that shaped the world around it, and the world we live in now?

Special thanks to our guests, Susie Milar and Gareth Russell, author of The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era.

**This episode originally aired April 4, 2022.

To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

April 3, 1974. Across America, many people wake up this morning thinking it will be a normal day. But in the next 24 hours, almost 150 tornadoes will hit the United States. It will be the largest tornado outbreak in the nation's history. Why did so many deadly tornadoes hit on this one day? And how did it spur life-saving changes that are still with us decades later?

Thank you to our guests: Greg Forbes, former severe weather expert with the Weather Channel; and atmospheric sciences professor Jeff Trapp from the University of Illinois.

**This episode originally aired March 29, 2021.

To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

March 29, 1951. The world is waiting for the jury’s verdict. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg have been accused of spying for the Soviet Union, conspiring to send atomic secrets to America’s enemy in the Cold War. Ethel and Julius are tried in court together, and after the jury finds both Rosenbergs guilty, they receive the same punishment – the death penalty. But while they were treated the same, these two individuals have very different stories. Today, who was Ethel Rosenberg, the only woman executed for espionage in U.S. history? And why is her guilt still a topic of debate today?

Special thanks to Anne Sebba, author of Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy; Michael and Robert Meeropol, the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg; and Steven Usdin, journalist and author of Engineering Communism: How Two Americans Spied for Stalin and Founded the Soviet Silicon Valley.

** This episode originally aired March 28, 2022.

To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

March 20, 1703. Today, almost fifty men, scattered around the city of Edo, Japan, are waiting to die. They’re all former samurai who had served the same lord – and they all carried out a deadly revenge attack in his name. Their story will go down in history as the legend of the 47 Ronin. Why did these men decide that to be loyal samurai, they had to die? And how did this moment live on for centuries and become part of the national story of Japan?
Thank you to our guest, Professor John Tucker, author of The Forty-Seven Ronin: The Vendetta in History and translator of Kumazawa Banzan: Governing the Realm and Bringing Peace to All Below Heaven.
** This episode originally aired March 15, 2021.
To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

March 14, 1991. The Birmingham Six have been in prison for 16 years. Each of these six Irishmen was found guilty of 21 counts of murder back in 1975 – held responsible for bombs detonated at two popular pubs in Birmingham, England. They were accused of being part of an IRA terror campaign, but have maintained their innocence since the moment they were arrested. It turns out... they were telling the truth.
Today, the Birmingham Six will be set free. How were they imprisoned for a crime they never committed? And why have the actual bombers never been brought to justice?
Special thanks to Ed Barlow, producer at the BBC and creator of the podcast series In Detail: The Pub Bombings. 
To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices